Criminals and Missionaries
by raven-flighton
Summary: Dean and Castiel are reasonably settled with a son, Robby, and a daughter, Mary. Everything is going great until they move into a new town to set up yet another church in Castiel's branch of Christianity. They've passed through a lot of towns in their time but this one's different. After all, with a teenager like Mary in the house, nothing can ever be simple.
1. Angels Are Watching Over You

It was both crazy and perfectly logical at the same time. After everything, here was Dean Winchester, married to an angel of the lord and a male one at that or, at least, one in a male vessel. He wasn't even gay and yet this other man had his heart. Yes, Castiel had Dean well and truly on a leash.

"_You are so whipped man," Sam rolled his eyes, sipping a beer one Christmas._

_Feeling the familiar cool of the gold ring on his finger, Dean laughed "Hey, there are worse ways to be whipped, Sammy."_

"_Sure," Sam scoffed and Dean considered how the tables had turned._

_Then a little head of dark hair popped up from behind the TV, accompanied with bright blue-green eyes wide and curious. Subtly, the little girl cocked her head to one side "What's whipped mean?"_

"_Never you mind, M," Dean raised his eyebrows, meaningfully._

_A small smile pulled at the little girls mouth "And what's crap?"_

_There was stunned silence for a few moments as the brothers stared at the seven-year-old, frozen. Then Sam chuckled, eyeing Dean with a smirk "Oh, Cas is gonna kill you."_

Yeah, Dean had a family and a reasonably normal one at that, aside from the whole two dads thing. They had two kids, Robert John Winchester and Mary Ellen Winchester who both seemed reasonably well-adjusted, considering the circumstances. Both knew about monsters, all the stories had been recounted numerous times and, the older they got, the more details were given. Early on Dean and Castiel had decided on a policy of honesty with their children.

"_Dad?" Robby threw the baseball back to Dean "Can I ask you something?"_

_Once the ball was safe in his hands, Dean replied "Sure."_

"_Why haven't you ever taught me or Mary to hunt?" he asked._

_Dean glanced over to where Mary was laid on her stomach, headphones in and book open. The tip of her nose was starting to burn rosy in the heat of the sun. Suddenly, he was scolding himself for not packing sun-cream this morning. Just because she was growing up now didn't mean he could get sloppy with her safety. She was only eleven after all._

_Blinking, Dean tossed the ball back to his son "I have."_

"_Yeah, I know there's the self-defence training and the shooting practise-"_

"_And the lock-picking."_

"_And the lock picking but, I mean, that's just general stuff, what about tracking demons or taking down wendigos or-"_

"_Robby," Dean caught the ball and held it still for a moment "This sort of stuff isn't fun or glamorous or anything good, I don't want either of you ever going through what Sammy and me went through growing up. I'll teach you how to ice a demon in theory, I'll teach you how to protect yourself but I'm not going to teach you how to go looking for trouble."_

Never did they ever feel in danger. God had granted Dean and Castiel two children who were biologically theirs which meant they were blood relations of a whole army of angels. Dean would often tell both his children, in all honesty, that angels were watching over them. Plus there were more than a few hunters who would skin alive anything that threatened the youngest Winchesters. Dean had never anticipated his kids would be this safe.

"_Happy new year!" Gabriel said as he flashed into their living room on New Year's Eve._

_Stunned, Dean jumped "Jesus Christ."_

"_Nope, guess again."_

_Castiel poked his head round the door and shouted from the kitchen "Gabriel, you're not supposed to flash in, we could have had people over."_

"_Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know," he rolled his eyes "But I _am_ an archangel, it wouldn't take much to just-" He snapped his fingers, smiling mischievously._

_Standing, Dean eyed Gabriel sceptically "You still scare me."_

"_Uncle Gabriel!" Mary bounded in, white fluffy angel wings on her back "Where's your costume?"_

_The archangel scrunched his nose in disgust "What are you wearing?"_

"_I'm an angel," she spun so her white pleated skirt fanned out into a bell "Because this is a costume party, so what are you supposed to be?"_

_Cheekily, he smiled "I'm the archangel Gabriel, master trickster and, most days, your father's worst nightmare."_

"_Yeah but Pappy could have said that sort of thing except he understands the meaning of a costume party," Mary rested her hands on her hips, those Mediterranean eyes turning stern._

_Stammering a moment, under her gaze (yes the great archangel stammering under the eyes of a thirteen year old) Gabriel finally came back with "I don't think Cas is your Dad's worst nightmare, M."_

"_Oh no, I am," Castiel winked._

_Sam, who had been upstairs with Robby, helping with face-paint, walked into the room at that moment "So whipped."_

_The doorbell rang and Castiel looked meaningfully at Gabriel. With a sigh, the archangel caved and snapped his fingers. In a blink of an eye, he was in a, very convincing joker costume "The things I do for you."_

The family still moved around a lot. After all, years of hunting had left Dean with a criminal record as long as his arm and his face still popped up on America's Most Wanted every so often. The longer they stayed in one place the more likely it was that someone would recognise him. Plus, Castiel was working on setting up his own church based on the teachings of a new Bible that included the Winchester Gospels. What better occupation for an angel than a preacher? Setting up a whole new branch of Christianity, however, meant moving from community to community setting up churches before moving on to the next town. Despite this, Dean especially put a lot of stock in the education of his children. They generally moved between semesters.

"_Robby, M, you guys ready to go?" Dean called as he loaded the last box into the back of the van. A few paces away, Castiel was shaking a few hands and giving some last-minute pointers to the man who would be running the church in that town now that he was leaving._

_Robby came out first, yawning as he picked up his backpack from by the door "How long's the drive to our new house?"_

"_Six hours," Dean replied, as he shut the van door with a thick thunk._

_Rolling his eyes, Robby sighed "Can't Pops just flash us there?"_

"_Mary Ellen, you get your ass over here!" Dean shouted across to where Mary was hugging her friends goodbye and making false promises to write. Then he turned back to his son "You can't just use your Pops's angel powers for everything."_

_Groaning, Robby headed for the car "But six hours Dad." Dean barely resisted pulling out the 'when I was a boy' card._

"_Suck it up," he called after his son as Mary appeared at his side._

_Her blue-green eyes were sad as she looked up at him "I'll miss this town, I like the people here."_

"_Well you can write and call them once in awhile," Dean tried to sound comforting but, in his heart, he didn't even believe his own words._

_Still, Mary smiled softly in appreciation of him trying "I've done this too many times to even hope that we'll keep in touch."_

_With a sigh, he draped an arm around her shoulders, pulled her into his side and dropped a kiss on the top of her head "I'm sorry M."_

"_It's okay, Dad," she shrugged a little before pulling away towards the car "There'll be friends in the next town, too." Robby had always chosen to stay away from other kids his age, to avoid the pain of separation when they had to move on but Mary had never been that way. From the beginning, Mary had been a social creature, she could make friends quickly. Every time they moved on though, Dean watched a little bit of his daughter's heart break._

_But, as always, they simply picked themselves up and got on the road._

So now the family were loaded into the impala, Sam behind them in the van, moving to the next town. On the back seat, Mary and Robby were sleeping, as they often did when the family drove through the night. Dean remembered them dreaming in car seats when they were little more than toddlers. Beside him, he felt more than saw Castiel staring up at the moon, blue eyes wide.

"Cas?"

"Hm?"

"Do you ever worry?" Dean asked, glancing across at his husband before refocussing on the road.

Cocking his head to one side, Castiel frowned "About what?"

After a moment of silence, Dean sighed "Everything."

"Be more specific Dean," Castiel demanded, dead-pan. It had been more than twenty years and Dean still wasn't quite used to how abrupt his husband could be.

Dean's brow furrowed "About what this life does to our kids."

"Of course I do but I don't see what other option there is," was Castiel's reply. He glanced back at the sleeping teenagers.

With another sigh, Dean shrugged "I don't know, we could get a ranch or something."

"A ranch?" Castiel seemed sceptical (not surprisingly) "You mean a large farm?"

The look on the angel's face was enough to make anyone laugh, but Dean managed to hold it together "Yeah, 'cause we wouldn't have to see people so no-one would recognise me from those-"

"Dean, how would their life be any better if we always had to hide?" Castiel retorted "And we're doing God's wor-"

Green eyes turning dark, Dean growled "God's work my ass."

"You married a preacher, Dean, God's work is exactly what we're doing."

Dean almost wanted to stop the car and argue properly but he also didn't want to wake up the kids "We're telling people the truth, I don't think the big man upstairs would consider it his work."

"That's a matter of opinion."

"Cas," Dean said sternly.

In response, Castiel turned his bright blue eyes on Dean "Mary and Bobby are fine, Dean. When we first met you never thought anything like this would be possible. Now we have a family and a reasonably normal life, things could be a lot worse."

"I know," the hunter reached across to take his husband's hand "I just wish I could give them everything."

Smiling gently, Castiel ran his thumb over the back of Dean's hand "I think all parents feel that way, Dean, but we can't we just have to do our best and that's exactly what we're doing." Though the words didn't quite settle either Dean's guilt or his worry, he found it within himself to push the feelings aside. Castiel turned his eyes back to the sky, though his hand lingered on Deans. That warmth was enough to calm his mind, for the moment.


	2. Small Town Gossip

In a small town like this one, new people were pretty rare. Most of the families here had lived in the same town, the same house for centuries. That was why the whole town paused to watch the moving van roll through the streets, led by a black Chevrolet Impala. Jeremy had been wandering the streets that morning, as he often did when he got restless, and the two vehicles breezed by him. He hadn't thought anything of it at the time but the town was buzzing by mid-afternoon.

"Mum's been going on about it all day," said his best friend, Mark, as they played video games that afternoon. Both of them were crashed in Mark's room, well out of sight of parents. Jeremy wasn't technically allowed to play video games.

Jerking the controller erratically to one side, Jeremy replied "Jeez, one new family moves into town and you'd think the sky was falling."

They left it at that, after all, what did two teenage boys care about town gossip?

When he left Mark's however, he found himself, once again, wandering the streets.

Jeremy was the pastor's son. From an early age he had been familiar with most of his father's flock and that meant he knew almost everyone in town. So perhaps he should have been more excited about new people in town. At least it meant new people. That meant a new house to attend dinner parties at, new stories to hear. Still, maybe Jeremy wasn't forward-thinking enough.

It was on days like this, he liked to slip into his father's church. It was peaceful, away from the gossip and the whispers, and it reminded him that today was only temporary, the lord was eternal. Lately though, he'd been questioning his faith. Sometimes it just seemed too fanciful, too dated and superstitious.

As he slid through the church doors, however, his eyes landed on a girl sat in one of the pews, head bowed and eyes closed serenely. She was beautiful, dark hair framing her gentle features. Somehow, she seemed to radiate light. What struck him most about her, however, was that she was unfamiliar.

"Hey," he called.

Her head jerked up at the sound and kind green-blue eyes met his "Hey."

"I haven't seen you around before," Jeremy wandered down the aisle and slid in beside her. He felt drawn to her, like they were magnets drawing one-another in.

Smiling a little, she nodded "My family and I just moved here this morning."

"No way," he grinned "You're the family everyone's talking about."

She chuckled and looked up at him through her eyelashes "Well I don't know about that."

A silence fell on them then, Jeremy was usually a half-decent conversationalist but now he had nothing to say. "So..." he began "What brings you to church?"

"Well," she laughed again, turning to face him "Churches have always made me feel safe, when we move to a new town, I come here to remind me that, wherever I am, angels are watching over me."

Jeremy couldn't help the way his eyebrows leaped towards his hairline "Wow, you really believe that stuff?"

"Oh, you'd be surprised," she said, in a voice that sounded soft and wise. It was the kind of voice that took his breath away. Just for a moment, he stared at her with complete awe. Her face turned puzzled for a moment "You really are surprised, aren't you?"

Spluttering, he descended into nervous laughter "I guess I've just- I've never met someone with... when you said that so honestly, like most people- they don't... Look, I live with a pastor and I don't think he's ever said something like that and meant it as much as you do."

"That's his loss," she grinned and then asked "What did you say your name was?"

With a smile, he offered his hand "Jeremy."

"I'm Mary," her hand was soft in his and he felt a rush of warmth as she shook his hand.

Suddenly, he glanced round at the door as it creaked open. A muscular man, with a short crop of brown hair, wandered in nervously "Mary, you wanna come and tell us how you want your room?"

"Yeah, sure Daddy," she darted to her feet and then, threw Jeremy a bright smile as she backed towards the door "It was nice meeting you." She slipped out the door, her father casting a curious glance back at him as they left.

.

Dean didn't interrogate Mary about the boy who'd been with her in church. He knew that she was always quick to make friends, it wasn't unusual for her to already have a gaggle of followers. It's just, usually, they were female. He wasn't sure how he felt about his teenage daughter having guy-friends. Even if they were just friends.

The house they re-entered was full of activity. An army of angels and hunters were busy decorating and moving furniture. Decorating was always the first thing they did when they moved to a new house. Dean felt that it was important for the kids that a new place began to feel like home as soon as possible. That way they could have a safe haven to come home to all the time, something he never had as a child. So Dean and Castiel called in the cavalry, every time they moved. Dean was never quite sure why they always turned out but he could guess it had something to do with Mary's puppy dog eyes.

"Dean," Balthazar emerged from the kitchen, carrying a box of Mary's old stuffed animals "Cas wants to see you in the living room."

With a nod, Dean sent his daughter upstairs to were Sam and Gabriel were setting up her room before heading past Balthazar. It took him a while to get through the kitchen and into the living room but, eventually, he found his way to Castiel. The room was almost fully decorated, Castiel was just positioning some photographs on the wall as Dean entered the room. It was refreshingly intruderless. Dean may appreciate the help of their friends and family but it did tend to make the house a little fraught. It was nice to have Castiel to himself for a moment.

"You all right Cas?" Dean asked, closing the door behind him.

With a smile, Castiel replied, rather woodenly "I'm fine, Dean, how are you?" Dean didn't think his angel would ever be comfortable with using human responses like that, instead of endless queries such as "why wouldn't I be fine?" or "what is the purpose of this question?"

"I'm great, thanks, what did you want me for?" Dean sidled further into the room. He could almost see the cogs turning in Cas's head as he calculated his reply. It was actually kind of adorable.

Then he sighed heavily and Dean realised that this wasn't going to be a nice conversation. "It's Sunday tomorrow."

"Yeah, Cas," Dean frowned, shuffling a little "That's right." Sometimes he wished his husband would get to the point a little faster. "So?"

The angel turned his bright blue eyes on Dean "So, I'd like to attend church tomorrow." A spark of anger rose in Dean but he subdued it with a deep breath. Castiel continued "And I'd like you to come with me, and Mary and Robby, obviously."

"Damn it, Cas," Dean groaned, rubbing his temples to try and maintain his cool "We've talked about this, I don't do church unless I'm looking to claim sanctuary."

Castiel sighed again and squinted as he said "But Dean, it's good to show our faith is compatible wi-"

"You know, I'm not so sure it is," there was such finality in the hunter's voice, that Castiel took a step back. The hurt expression in the man's face made him backtrack "No, look I'm sorry, its just. Church isn't my thing, you know its not. I'm not so into the whole, worship of God _thing_. It's not me. Personally, I think God's a dick but I do believe in you and this whole new brand of faith you're spinning. I'm always here for you but I'm not about to go marching to church to listen to a preacher talk crap. That's not what I want to do with my Sunday."

Urgency tainting his tone, Castiel pleaded "But its not just about that. In a town like this one, a church is a community centre. It's a chance to establish ourselves here before we start our church."

"Cas, you know its not a good idea for people to meet both of us at once," Dean retorted "The whole two dads thing doesn't go down well in most religious circles."

A sudden and dangerous anger flashed across Castiel's face "God doesn't care!"

"Well small-town Christians do!" Dean shouted back at him.

Then there was silence. Dean always felt crap when they fought and this fight recurred often. Whenever they moved to a new town, Castiel always wanted to be "out and proud" from the get go but Dean knew how communities like this worked and new that they just couldn't swing it like that.

"Daddy's right."

Both of them turned and saw Mary at the door. Her eyes were wide and upset but her face was set with determination "You can't just walk into church holding another boy's hand. They'll crucify us before we've started. It's smarter, if we play it this way, to begin with."

Dean felt like throwing in an "I told you so" for good measure but he thought that was too far. Besides, his little girl looked like she might cry. He held out a hand to her but she marched straight past him and hugged Castiel. For a moment, he considered being jealous but then he saw the angel he loved with his arms around their little girl and he just couldn't stay mad in any way. He was just so happy to have them.

.

The church was buzzing on Saturday when Castiel arrived with Mary and Robby. Jeremy smiled at her as he took his seat, next to his mother and brother, in the front pew. Mary and her family were at the back. All three of them were dressed in Sunday best, Mary in a pretty baby blue blouse and a pleated skirt. It was very conservative, very Christian he supposed. Jeremy couldn't help but wonder if her mother had forced her into that outfit just as his had that morning. It was then that it struck Jeremy that the man who sat beside Mary wasn't the man who'd grabbed her from the church the day before. He was sure that she had called the first man Dad and yet, when they came to introduce themselves to his father after the service, this man said Mary was his daughter.

"Mary," the pastor said, shaking her hand "Biblical name."

Smiling politely, she replied "Family name, my grandmother was named Mary."

"And I'm named for an old friend of Dad's," Mary's brother – Robby or Bobby or something – said, a general expression of indifference on his face. He looked a lot like Mary except his hair was lighter and his eyes bluer. Something about him was inherently different though, a little darker, a little unfriendly.

With a smile, Jeremy's father replied "Well that's nice, it's good to see a family so dedicated as to come to church the day after you moved in."

"Yes well, we're mostly moved in now, anyway and its nice to take a minute out to worship," the man claiming to be Mary's father – Cas, apparently, he guessed it was short for Casper – said in a tone that was very serious. He was a very serious looking man, on the whole.

Quietly, Jeremy said to Mary "I see where you get it from."

"What?" she whispered back.

He smiled, his shoulder brushing hers "Your piety, I can see where you get it from."

"Yeah well, Papa's like that, its in his blood," she replied.

He didn't get a chance to ask her about the other man who she'd called Dad because her "Papa" was calling her away. As the three of them left the churchyard, Jeremy's father nodded with a pompous certainty "Nice family them, they'll fit right in."

Somehow, Jeremy wasn't so sure.


End file.
